1999 HD Power Door Locks, Dome light, floor courtesy light at coach door.

[CGAZ Paul]

My 1999 HD has the flexible metal spring that goes from the coach body into the coach door to feed wiring to the power door lock. After several episodes of failure with all door locks, and fuse replacement, the culprit was found. (The newer Rialtas have brass spring-loaded contacts at the door and the spring was deleted so those units are fine.) Anyhow, with the 30 amp fuse replaced the door locks went up and down without stopping and it was discovered that the spring became extremely hot and would burn fingers. Thus began the repair. I learned this the hard way as I didn't find details in any manual. There are two access covers for the wires; one inside the coach near the spring that carries the wires, the other on the door which covers the power door lock unit. I figured I would just cut the old wires and feed new ones through. NO!!!! Not so easy. First step is to unscrew that foot long spring from the coach door frame at the body. The spring diameter is bigger inside the hole, keeping it from being pulled out. Similar to putting keys on a keychain. Once unscrewed the spring should be able to be pulled out of the door. The hardest part was feeding new wires from the door lock access into the little hole and through the square channel. Once done, you feed it through the spring leaving enough slack to then feed the wires through the two grommeted holes in the wall of the coach. From there you can connect the new to the old. Once connected, screw the spring back into the hole and guide the spring back into the door and pull up the slack. I put heat shrink tubing on the wires that slide in and out of the spring. Once finished you can put the locking mechanism back (I left mine hanging by its actuating arm while re-wiring). Then put the 30 amp fuse back in and see how it works. Final note: The floor courtesy light is wired into this circuit but ALSO wired into the time delay dome lamp. When the lock wires burned it shorted out the seperate fuse for the Dome Lamp as well. Now everything works and I am pleased. I discovered that the end of the spring had a sharp edge which must have caused the original problem. All three wires had become molten and melted completely off of the copper. I smooth filed the spring and the shrink tubing should also give it years of safe use. I am sure this will or has happened to other Rialta owners and it confounded the VW Dealer who only replaced the fuse each time. They said the coach end of the Rialta was "Winnebago's" problem. Hope this helps anyone.